Contacts: Diana Kenney, Marine Biological Laboratory dkenney@mbl.edu; 508-685-3525 or 508-289-7139 Craig Brierley, University of Cambridge Craig.Brierley@admin.cam.ac.uk; 01223 766205 WOODS HOLE, Mass. — Wouldn’t it be useful to suddenly erect 3D spikes out of your skin, hold them for an hour, then even faster retract them and swim away? Octopus and cuttlefish can do this as […]

Contact: 508-685-3525; dkenney@mbl.edu Woods Hole, Mass. — Many of the genes involved in natural repair of the injured spinal cord of the lamprey are also active in the repair of the peripheral nervous system in mammals, according to a study by a collaborative group of scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and other institutions. […]

Contact: 508-685-3525; dkenney@mbl.edu WOODS HOLE, Mass. — How do cells move in a certain direction in the body —go to a wound site and repair it, for example, or hunt down infectious bacteria and kill it? Two new studies from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) show how cells respond to internal forces when they orient, […]

Contact: dkenney@mbl.edu; 508-289-7139 WOODS HOLE, Mass.—Two new studies on the evolutionary origin of teeth and of vertebra further illuminate the human connection to marine organisms that goes back millions of years. Both studies in the little skate (Leucoraja erinacea) are published this week by Andrew Gillis and Katharine Criswell of the University of Cambridge, U.K., […]

Contact: 508-289-7139; dkenney@mbl.edu WOODS HOLE, Mass.—Using a simple “mirror trick” and not-so-simple computational analysis, scientists affiliated with the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have considerably improved the speed, efficiency, and resolution of a light-sheet microscope, with broad applications for enhanced imaging of live cells and embryos. MBL Fellows Hari Shroff of the National Institute of Biomedical […]

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and six partners have received an award for developing “The Nitrogen Footprint Tool Network,” a program for assessing and reducing the amount of nitrogen pollution produced on college and research campuses. The partners received the “Campus Sustainability Research” award last month from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in […]

By Stephanie M. McPherson Salt marshes have been flooded by inland freshwater along nearly a third of the U.S. Atlantic coast, due to diversions by dams, dikes, and other human constructs. This hurts more than the natural biodiversity of a saltwater system. As salt marshes freshen, they emit more and more methane—a powerful greenhouse gas. […]

Contact: Diana Kenney, Marine Biological Laboratory 508-685-3525 or 508-289-7139; dkenney@mbl.edu WOODS HOLE, Mass.—For the octopus and cuttlefish, instantaneously changing their skin color and pattern to disappear into the environment is just part of their camouflage prowess. These animals can also swiftly and reversibly morph their skin into a textured, 3D surface, giving the animal a […]

Contact: Diana Kenney, Marine Biological Laboratory dkenney@mbl.edu; 508-289-7139 or 508-685-3525 WOODS HOLE, Mass.— Disruptions in the microbiome of the human gut are correlated with several diseases, including obesity and cancer. Yet little is known about the spatial organization of the nearly 1,000 bacterial species in the human gut, which can influence how the species interact […]